Good Afternoon, Flowers! We had sunshine this morning but the clouds have rolled in -- gloomy and terribly windy again this afternoon. The wind makes it feel so much colder than the temperature says it is. We went to early church; I lit the memorial candles with another "older" lady. The pastor reads the name, we light the candle, and another lady rang a bell. The bell was mine from bell choir and she had never rung a bell before. The other candle lighter had never lit candles and got way ahead of the names being read so we stood there doing nothing while he read the rest of the names. I felt a little stupid; it worked better when Bob and I did it together last year. Bob offered to pick up chicken dinners from a local restaurant so that will be the menu for lunch.

"Gma" -- I have never seen crab cakes. Do you make them or can you buy them? I had a Fed Ex delivery a few years ago that wasn't mine. When I called them I got the run around that it was delivered to the correct address; same house numbers but different streets. It took most of the day to get it straightened out and the lady who was supposed to get it finally came to my house. She had an unlisted phone number so I couldn't call her. I wasn't impressed with the service. I hope someone finds your yarn and gets it to you asap! You'll probably end up with double! Harvest is done as of yesterday! Now our meals can get back to "normal," whatever that is on a given day.

I'm off to read the Sunday paper and check for toy ads. Maddy wants money and nothing else; that would be easy but at 10 years old, I'd rather wrap gifts for her than just hand over money. Hope you all enjoy a relaxing day today!

Good afternoon everyone. Hope you enjoyed the extra hour of sleep or whatever you did with it. We ran a bunch of errands this morning and are finally back home. I fixed a lasagna for dinner and will put it in the oven around 3. I use the no cook noodles and do all the layering except the top layer I don't put cheese on. I wrap it tight in aluminum foil and bake at 323 for an hour, remove the foil, sprinkle on cheese and heat until the top is bubbly. Learned this from all people Dom Deloise years ago before they even did the no bake noodles. It makes it so easy to make dinner.

I was afraid we would have to run around a lot to find what I wanted, but ended up doing it all at Target except the groceries because I had Kroger free coupons I wanted to use. We bought a couple cheap lamps for the living room and a new bath mat and new shower rod because a few years back I slipped in the tub and grabbed it and bent it. We haven't replaced it though we bent it back in shape. The metal shower hooks keep catching on the place I bent it and it drives me nuts. I never think about replacing it when we are out shopping until today because we walked past it going to get a new bath mat. I can always tell when the bath mat needs changing; your feet can feel the suction cups through the mat. I found this mat at Target and asked Jack if he would like it instead of what I always buy. The thing was full of little plastic type spikes and such and supposed to massage your feet while you bathed. Jack said he thinks they would hurt so no go! I agreed as just passing your hand over it didn't feel good.

I weighed in on Sunday instead of tomorrow and am down another 2 lbs. The jeans I couldn't wear before are becoming too big. You can pull the denim away from my behind and legs. I told Jack no new clothing until the stuff I have falls off me. A bunch of my undies are too big now, but because of the female stuff and such I keep them for that. I have always bought tshirts that are long like tunic style to cover my belly because my ostomy scar and my long incision shows. Well they used to hit me just under my belly on my thighs. I put one on this morning and it was near my knees!

Jean: Yum, chicken for lunch. We had a hot dog at Target. Durn those things are salty. I gave up after about 3 bites. Hopefully, next time you do the memorial the people involved with know what they are supposed to do. We buy Emeril Legasses crab cakes. They come two to a box and Jack likes them a lot. You can buy big boxes of frozen ones. They look like when you make salmon cakes if you do. I buy a large container of shrimp cocktail and eat cold shrimp when he has crab cakes. We have tater tots with them usually and the shrimp I buy comes with a big ole thing of cocktail sauce so I can dip, dip, dip! I was in heaven on the ship as I had shrimp cocktail every night at dinner. One night Jack had lobster bisque. I always thought lobster bisque was like a cream based soup. This stuff wasn't and tasted like bilge water. It was awful. Sort of like walking along the ocean or lake and that funky dead fish smell there is sometimes. Well that is what this stuff tasted like.

Well girls, I need to work some more on my scarf. I finally got an update and hopefully the yarn will be here tomorrow, Have a nice Sunday all. Faye

Good afternoon gals. It is cool here today and partly sunny. I had the upstairs bathrooms to clean today and found out I am too short to put up the new shower curtain rod so Jack will have to help me.

I felt I should keep to my regular weigh in day and got a nice surprise. I am down to 315, only 16 lbs and I will be under 300 for the first time in decades. I need to go upstairs and start trying on clothing I couldn't wear before, but it kind of wears me out to do that. Most of the stuff is summer clothing anyway, but I have a couple really nice pair of dress pants I need to try on.

My yarn is out for delivery so I can get started on Thomas's socks as soon as it is delivered. I am going to have to really knit, knit, knit to get them done in time as we are having our Christmas the first week in December. I need to get on the kids and moms to get me Christmas lists so I can get to buying stuff. I know Jackson wants a handheld video game thing, but don't know exactly what he wants. Thomas I have no clue. His mom said she had to go out and buy him new clothes because he outgrew the ones he has so buying him clothes is out.

Tonight is pot roast night and I sure hope it gets done. I have had it in the crockpot since 9 on high and the roast is still undercooked. I just turned it over and put the lid back on and will just leave it to cook until Jack gets home and check it then.

There's been something going on at the condo next door that the bank owns. When we got home from vacation they had changed out some electrically stuff and had broken the padlock and handle on the gate to get in. Seems funny they didn't have the keys to the padlock. They did something over last weekend too and we have seen a guy in a suit over there a couple times. Maybe they have found someone to buy it. Just in our one block there are two condos for sale and two for rent. One is the lady that passed away a month ago. I guess they finally cleared out the house so they could rent it.

Guess I better check my laundry and see if it is ready to fold. Have a nice beginning to the week! Faye

Good Afternoon, Flowers! The sun is shining after a gloomy morning with a few sprinkles blowing in the wind. We counted late this morning so I was late getting home. I will pick up the gift shop money tomorrow. I had a P.E.O. meeting this afternoon and am now home to stay. We had coffee and cookies so I'm not in the least bit interested in planning supper right now.

"Gma" -- on another 2#s gone forever! Lasagna sounds good; that's something I rarely make for the two of us. I had to at your description of the lobster bisque tasting like bilge water. Is Thomas just as happy with gift cards rather than "stuff?" You could get one for his favorite restaurant, the book store, electronic store, etc. When I buy gift cards I wrap them in different sized boxes to keep the kids guessing. It seems like the kids are getting harder to buy for, and the "toys" get more expensive, as they get older. I have that your yarn arrives today! I hope you get some nice neighbors whether they buy or rent next door.

I need to unload the dishwasher and make it look like I accomplished something today. Hope you all enjoy your evening.

Good morning girls. Hurrah, I got my yarn. It is going to make a beautiful pair of socks too. It is a handpainted yarn called "castle walls," and it is this beautiful gray and white blend. I have half the cuff done on the first sock so I am going to be going at lightening speed to get them done.

Jack got my shower curtain rod up and I put the shower curtains back up, (we have two, the one on the outside is for show and we have a cloth one on the inside that is treated so it doesn't soak in water.) I have had this combination for about 5 years now and haven't had to replace either one. They both hang on a single hook together. I just take them down every month and wash them in bleach to kill mold and mildew and then dry them in the dryer and hang them back up. They are both white so they can be bleached. I cleaned bathrooms upstairs yesterday and will tackle more stuff downstairs this morning. I sprayed hot chocolate all over the inside of the microwave so have to clean that up pronto. I used the wrong cup and it sprayed bits of hot chocolate all over the microwave walls. It's a mess. I rarely even drink hot chocolate.

Jean: Sounds like you had a productive day yesterday. Kelly likes us to buy him things instead of gift cards or cash. I would happily give him cash because he saves it and doesn't spend it until he has enough to buy whatever it is he wants. I am thinking of getting Jackson a little wallet and putting some Mcdonalds food cards in it or something like that. He is at an age where he would feel grown up with something like that. I made pot roast, carrots and mashed potatoes last night in the crockpot but what a mess it made in the kitchen at serving time. So, I told Jack tonight is something easy, manwich sandwiches and tater tots.

Well need to get out of here and work on the sock. Have a great day all. Faye

Good Morning, Flowers! It's a dark, gloomy, windy, and cold morning in my neighborhood. The weatherman is still promising some snow tonight. I need to pick up my gift shop money and make the deposit this morning. Other than that I need to work on the afghan and perhaps catch another cat who has decided my deck is "her" home. She is tame and has the softest fur I've ever felt on a cat.

"Gma" -- I'm glad your yarn has arrived! I'd love to watch you knit. Where did you find a cloth liner for your shower? I have a vinyl one and every once in awhile it tends to stick to the tub. I have several fifty cent pieces to wrap for Ian. I don't know why he thinks they are so special. The person who puts them in the coffee fund has either gone south or run out because I haven't gotten one in several weeks. I also found a football picture of Jason that I'm going to give Ian for his room. Jason is in the same pose that Ian was in for his pictures this year. We haven't had a roast in quite awhile so am thinking that sounds very good. Today is definitely a soup kind of day.

I'm dressed so need to head to the gift shop. Hope you all are enjoying sunshine and a terrific Tuesday today!

Good morning ladies! 57 degrees. The leaves are finally turning and the gloom of winter is here.

I've been down with a sinus infection that has moved to my ears. I didn't leave the house for 4 days. I'm feeling better but have a really rattling cough so I'm taking Mucinex DX for that. Doc gave me some meds that have really helped. Casper has been right near me the whole time. Friday I feelt really bad and after I read the paper I went back to bed and slept off and on from 10 am to 4 pm and he stayed on the bed with me the whole time. He'd come and look me in the face every once in awhile and then go lay back down.

I had 17 Trick or Treaters. I gave out small bags of pretzels (50 calories a bag) so I have lots left over for a once a week treat.

Sandy and I got tickets for the opera The Magic Flute by Mozart on November 17. We haven't been able to afford tickets for several years but this time they had some much cheaper so we jumped on the band wagon. I'm sure they are so far in the balcony we won't be able to see the stage, but that's okay. It's the music I love.

This Saturday is tea with Glory and Irene and Irene's sister who is visiting from England. Irene and her sister are both in their 80s and have great stories about village life in England when they were young.

Faye, you are doing so well with your weight loss - soon the 200s will be here! You must be feeling a lot better. I've had glass shower doors since 1974 when we bought our first house. I hate shower curtains because no matter how hard I try, water gets on the floor. You'll have those socks done in no time!

Jean, just about every restaurant here has some type of crab cake. I hate the ones that have filler (cracker meal or bread crumbs). I just want crab, onion, celery, egg and Old Bay seasoning. I bake them. Yum! I'd hate to live inland again and not have all the fresh seafood to choose from. The word must be out to all cats that they can come to your house for food, water, and placement in a good home! I'm reading a book now called "Fur Tales". It's a collection of short stories as told by cats. Some are funny, some are sad and they all are good.

Have a wonderful day and don't forget to VOTE. Big turnout expected here in VA for governor's race.

__________________
Susan

HW 356 pounds - CW 135 - GW 137

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Good morning everyone. We are supposed to get rain today for quite awhile. It hasn't started yet, but I took out a bag of trash and swept the leaves out of the walkway (they were too wet to clean up over the weekend) and it was pretty windy. Thank goodness the no one lives next door as my nightgown was blowing all over the place!

I have my mammogram tomorrow and a dr appt on Friday. I hope we can get to the bottom of a couple of minor problems, one of which is my calves. Since I have lost weight they are sore to the touch. I shaved them this morning and even pressing the razor on them was a bit painful. It may just be the blood vessels are closer to the skin now and that is what is sore. We shall see what she says. I am hoping I can have her help me apply for a handicap parking pass. My knee has gotten so bad it is hard to walk from a parking lot into a store. I usually use the store basket to help me when I am in the store and my cane outside the store, but it locks up or pops in and out so much now that going long distance if I am alone is a little bit scary. Jack goes with me places most of the time and will drop me off in front of the building, but like tomorrow I need to go to Joann's and get some stuff and will be alone. Until I get to a more normal weight there is no sense in even seeing the orthopedic surgeon. I have had 3 regular doctors and Jack's ortho surgeon tell me my weight could undo anything they fixed so I just have to wait.

I have the first sock done all the way to the heel and am picking up the stitches on both sides of the heel and starting the foot, which is really the longest knitted part so it takes the most time. Hopefully I may be able to get the first one done by the first of the week and start the other one.

Jean: I have had that cloth liner so long I am not sure. I think I may have bought it as Bed Bath and Beyond, but I am not positive. It would screw with your head watching me knit since I knit left handed. Everything is backwards. I think those ideas are splendid for Christmas. I have to get through Kelly's bday first. It is a week from Saturday. She is the last birthday in the family. Our anniversary is the 18th and that rounds out bdays and anniversaries for the year. We haven't decided about Thanksgiving either. I talked to Kelly about doing what we did last year, but she gave me other suggestions too so I don't know. It will be just the 5 of us as Jay and his family won't be down here until the following weekend for the St Jude's marathon. I hope they weather holds out and it isn't too cold.

Susan: Sure hope you are feeling better. With you I would think anything with your breathing in any way could really put you down. I use that mucinex stuff and it always does the trick for me, but it sure leaves a nasty taste in your mouth when it starts breaking up. Good ole Casper what a great nanny. I am going to jump for joy when I get to 299! It isn't too far off either.

Well back to the sock! Have a great middle of the week and keep warm!!! Faye

We just got back last evening and I am sure glad to be home again. We didn’t see any accidents going or coming so that is a good thing that folks were driving sensibly. We had a great visit with the relatives “out there.” And are so glad to be back home. The dogs were glad to see us and the cat hasn’t stopped telling us all about it. Not much going on this day ~ just easing back into our daily routine around here.

We had the best meal at a place in NM where we bought another painting and a neat gift for our neighbor for taking care of our mail. We plan on taking the motor home and driving there in the spring for dinner for they have the best Carne Asada. It is a restaurant and gift shop combined and they have nice looking paintings. This is the second one we have purchased from them. Last time was that buffalo painting and this one is of a cattle drive.

My mother had a silver necklace that was a design of Picassos which was about 2½ inches across and now it belongs to the wife of my nephew. Anyway I was so glad she has it for I didn’t want it for it was too big for my taste. My brother had one made like it only smaller for his fiancé out of gold and now my niece is going to get the form from him and have two silver ones made ~ one for her and one for me. I have rounded up enough “junk” silver to send her for the both of them and will split the jewelers cost with her. It is such a neat design and I always liked it back when big jewelry was the fashion. It may be back now though but I prefer a smaller one which will be 1½ inch ~ big enough.

SUSAN I am so glad you are feeling better. Casper is such a sweetheart to care for you. That book sounds like one I would like to read. Did you ever see the Broadway type production of "Cats"? That was so good to watch.

DONNA FAYE You are doing so well shrinking your body. Celebrate when you get to 300 with a non food gift for yourself. It is a great feeling to be under 300 and then under 250 and looking beyond. Hope you get a new neighbor you can be friends with.

JEAN Thank you so much for the sympathy card for that was real sweet of you to send it. I have many good memories of Tricia. Snow ~ we are so glad all we got was rain all the way for our last leg of our trip home yesterday. It was one huge storm covering several states. Soup day sounds yummy.

Looks like it has been chatty around here while I was MIA which is great.
Have a nice afternoon my Magnolia friends.

__________________DON'T EXCHANGE WHAT YOU WANT MOST
FOR WHAT YOU WANT AT THE MOMENTDOWN THE ROAD TO THINSUCCESS OCCURS WHEN OPPORTUNITY MEETS PREPARATION

Good Afternoon, Flowers! The sun is shining, it's breezy, and cold in my neighborhood today. Much much better with the sun shining than yesterday! I don't think we got any snow last night, or if we did it didn't stick around. The birdbath was frozen this morning and it looked frosty on the leaves covering the yard. I ran another check back to the hospital and a couple other errands this morning. I've been doing laundry and decluttering the island this afternoon. I get lazy and don't put things away when I finish with them; I need to work on that.

Susan -- I hope you are feeling much better by now. I'm glad Casper was concerned and knew you weren't feeling well. It's always nice to have fuzzy body near by. Crab cakes must be a southern dish because I've never seen it on a seafood menu around here. I will see if it is offered when we go to Maui next time. I know you will enjoy the Saturday tea and the opera. What a treat both will be!

"Gma" -- I've had that feeling where my knee is going to give out and that is scary! The pt called it a form of bursitis and it finally went away. Good luck with your medical appointments, necessary but not fun. I know you will have the socks done in plenty of time. I finally got Ian's wish list so think we may head to Sioux City tomorrow and start the shopping. I hate his birthday is so close to Christmas.

Maggie -- Welcome home! I'm glad you had a safe trip with no snow storms. I'm sure your furry family is glad to be back home too. It's nice that you can have a silver necklace like your mother's, and also one for your niece. I'm not into the big jewelry either.

I have bell choir later this afternoon so need to keep busy on my decluttering. I am getting catalogs, and more catalogs every day. Some of them I've never heard of let alone ordered anything from. Hope you all enjoy the rest of your day!

Good morning gals. Just a quick post before I finish up getting ready to go get my mammogram. I have a few errands afterwards then I will be back home for awhile until I go pick up Jack.

Two years ago I ordered a great lightweight jacket from Land's End but had to buy a man's to fit me. I put it on this morning to take Jack to work because it was 40 degrees out and the thing is huge. I can wrap the two sides around me. I paid a pretty penny for it though so I will use it for quite awhile and just let it be baggy.

Jack's new work shoes should be here today. They get a voucher for $85 to buy shoes every year, but now the company is not longer in business here in Memphis so they have to do it online. They have to have all these special things like steel toes, electrical hazard and such and Jack hates boots. He has always been able to buy a type of tennis shoe, but they have dropped all of them now so we had to pay for the darn things. They are skechers and cost us nearly $100. I told him they have to last awhile if we are going to be paying for them. They won't reimburse you either. You either buy from Lehigh online or go without.

Maggie: Glad you made it home all safe and sound. I am sure all the doggies and kitty are glad you are back home. Jack bought me this beautiful watch, necklace and earrings. The necklace is a starfish cubic zirconia and just lovely. I like big jewelry, mainly because of my size, but he picked this out as a gift to me on the ship so hopefully on fancy days I can wear it.

Jean: I am going to have to get on the boys to get me their lists or they are going to get money. I have Thomas's first sock about 2 inches from doing the toe. They look so huge, but he wears a men's size 10 shoe. I hate they are growing up so fast. I am sure when you are in Hawaii you can get crab cakes, though the majority of good crabs are on the east coast of the US.

Good morning, ladies! 62 degrees and rain this day. From the forecast, our warmer days are over and its to be colder from here on out. I do have 2 pink roses that opened up this week.

I went to Red Lobster for lunch with 3 friends yesterday. I had the Bar Harbour Salad with shrimp. It was really good and very filling. I don't care for the cheesy biscuits so it was not hard to pass them up.

Faye, you knit like a demon. Those socks will be done in plenty of time. You could give the boys prepaid Visa cards and then they could get what they want wherever. I bought some beautiful wool yard to make a pair of fingerless gloves. Now I need to get busy so I have them done before Spring! Faye, maybe it's time to ask your doc if a knee brace would help until you lose enough weight to have surgery. I often use one at the gym for the knee I banged up last year sometimes wants to give out when I'm working hard there. The doc had mine made to measure. It helps a lot.

Jean, we buy crabs by the bushel around here right from the boats. Doesn't get any fresher than that. We have several seafood packing plants and a lot of oriental women work as pickers (separating the crab from shell) and the men work at filleting fish. We can get fresh fish and seafood all year. It sure tastes a lot better than when it has to be shipped in like we got it in OH.

Maggie, welcome back! I'm glad you had a safe trip. Carne Asada is unfamiliar to me...what is it? I don't do too well with Mexican food for the spiciness upsets my GERD. What a nice rememberance of your mom that necklace will be.

Have a great day!

__________________
Susan

HW 356 pounds - CW 135 - GW 137

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.

It is another chilly day in the 50°s here in the ♥-Land and I am getting over all that traveling these past few weeks. I have got to get back into cooking at home for we have had so many eating out occasions due to being away from home. I didn’t put on any weight which is a good thing. O-Joy ~ Will is going to join WW with me next meeting. He has come to the realization that since I have been doing so well to have lost almost 100 pounds using the WW way that he will give it a go at WW. Since I am already cooking the WW way he can lose if he cuts back on his portion sizes. I promised to stay out of his “program” as he has stayed out of mine. We both did so well on our trip to not buy any “junk food” at the places we stopped for gas. We had taken along some fruit and jerky which was quite satisfying if we wanted a snack.

A beautiful live plant was delivered to us with no name of who sent it. I sure would like to know who bought it so I could “thanks for it.” We went out for dinner last evening and it was sure good to be home and eating at Applebee’s where I can eat off their menu that has WW points for the entrées.

I finally got my little computer working correctly to send & receive my mail on it. Had to call the teckie to get that done though, for the booklet didn’t tell it like it is. I don’t know who writes those things but when the instructions are followed they don’t work like they say they will. I have the little thing on the charger so hopefully it will behave itself now. I was even able to download my favorite Monopoly game on it.

I also get a plethora of catalogues and some I find interesting and others I just toss into the trash. I am not ordering much this holiday season though for there aren’t many that we buy for anymore. The family is dwindling that we exchanged gifts with. My little 8th grade friend here was thrilled with all the little “trinkets” that I got her from each state we traveled through. She likes to write short stories and enjoys it when she has me to read them and offer any suggestions.

I just received See,s® candy catalogue and what is neat about this origination is that a person is allowed to choose what pieces of candy goes into a box. Traditionally we get a box of Nuts & Chews and eat 2 pieces each then I wrap the pieces individually and freeze them for later in the year. They are one to two points each and I mark them on the wrapper what the points value is. If you can’t just eat one then don’t order from these folks for the are the very (in my humble opinion) best.

SUSAN We like eating at the Red Lobster and love those biscuits and have the recipe to make them (which I don't do often.) Carne Asada has a thin piece of steak grilled & served with different sauces, rice, beans, chopped lettuce, onions & tomatoes and fresh tortillas to make burritos out of you wish. You can make it as spicy or as mild as you like for you control what you put on your tortilla. I like mine mo-hotta-mo-betta and Will likes his mild. He can't eat spicy ever since he had his gall bladder removed.

DONNA FAYE Isn't it fun to shrink out of clothes. That is too bad that Jack can't buy the footwear he was used to and has to change styles. Hope your test at the doc comes out well.

JEAN Our birdbath didn't freeze yet but it will eventually. Cecil likes to jump up on the edge of it and get a drink of water. I used to catch crabs down at the beach when I was a kid. They were fun to play with back then but we didn't eat them.

Have a great afternoon my Magnolia friends.

__________________DON'T EXCHANGE WHAT YOU WANT MOST
FOR WHAT YOU WANT AT THE MOMENTDOWN THE ROAD TO THINSUCCESS OCCURS WHEN OPPORTUNITY MEETS PREPARATION

Good Morning, Flowers! It's cloudy with the sun trying to peek through every once in awhile and the wind continues to blow. We went to Sioux City yesterday; Bob needed to get the oil changed in his pickup and a reboot for the clock that sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. Our small (keep extra pop and beer in it) refrigerator in the garage quit so made a stop at SAMs to purchase a little bigger one plus all the other "stuff" that seems to jump into the basket. Then we power shopped with Ian's birthday and Christmas lists plus jeans and shirts for the other grandchildren's Christmas. I had Kolby's Christmas list so headed to Target for Legos and American Girl look alike doll clothes for the girls. Back to Scheels at the mall for a shirt Ian wanted -- UnderArmor which I guess is the "in" item now. I was pooped when we finally got home! I'm not a shopper so it was work for me; glad I had Bob along to help!

"Gma" -- I hope all went well with your medical appointments yesterday! That's too bad about Jack's work shoes, and very frustrating! Bob likes a certain brand/style of boots and they are no longer made either. The couple we go to Maui with often order seafood but I don't so never pay attention to that part of the menu. I will next time just to see if crab cakes are there.

Susan -- Oh, man! It's a good thing we don't have a Red Lobster here or I would order cheesy biscuits to go! I am a bread and potato person -- my downfall for sure! When we lived in Cleveland I went to a fish market with a neighbor. I walked in and right back out! I was just pregnant and the smell was over whelming! Have fun at the tea!

Maggie -- on not gaining an ounce while you were gone! It will be nice to have Will working WW with you! I hope you find out who sent the plant; what a nice gesture.

We are heading back to Sioux City for a funeral this afternoon. The deceased was a college friend of Bob's parents and Bob grew up with their kids. The funeral is in the church we belonged to when we lived in Sioux City; Jason and Amanda were married there. They have a bell choir and I've always wanted to go back to hear them play some Sunday. Maybe this will be the year!

Hope all is well with all of you today and you enjoy a fantastic Friday!

It is a very windy day here in the ♥-Land in the 60°s area and we are not doing much outdoors for sure. They told us that the winds were mighty when we were gone ~ guess that is what yanked our trellis archway that leads to a side door of the church building off the wall outside and not a kid swinging on it.

My new little toy is working like a charm now that the teckie helped me out so much to get it “fixed.” I can sure run the battery down quick by playing Monopoly on it so I’ll have to watch that. The mail system on it even looks different and better now that it is working like it should.

All our animals are back to their selves now and into their regular routines. It took Cecil the longest to get his self back though. He runs the other way when we open the back gate, if he is outside. The dogs will sit by that gate when we go somewhere and don’t take them, then they run back there when they hear the Jeep return and give us a good

Tonight for dinner I am making a rice dish with some burger meat in it then have some fruit and veggies to go with it. Not anything exciting but yummy. We will soon get a frozen turkey breast when they get them in to roast for Thanksgiving. We can also get the whole berry cranberry sauce at that same time for it will be cheaper then and we can get several cans for we eat it at other times during the year. Also get several cans of pumpkin for we also use that during the year. I use it in other dishes and not just for pie.

JEAN Those small refrigerators are so neat. We have one for sodas, small cans of V-8 and water. Sure keeps us from opening the big fridge often. Ours is a real small one that sits on a table. Sounds like you got your Christmas shopping all done already. Good to get those things that "all the kids" are wanting before they are sold out.

Have a great afternoon my Magnolia friends.

__________________DON'T EXCHANGE WHAT YOU WANT MOST
FOR WHAT YOU WANT AT THE MOMENTDOWN THE ROAD TO THINSUCCESS OCCURS WHEN OPPORTUNITY MEETS PREPARATION